By Craig Horleman

DOVER — Whether you are new to Delaware or have been here all your life, it seems the First State is always full of surprises.

The new book, “Secret Delaware: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful and Obscure,” pulls back the curtain on the state’s historic happenings and modern institutions, showcasing the people, places and artifacts that make it what it is.

Local authors and former reporters Rachel Kipp and Dan Shortridge answer the questions we all have about our locale — and maybe some you didn’t even know you had.

“We started out just, kind of, going through things ... we had written about when we worked in journalism because we, kind of, wondered about them ourselves and wanted to find out more (about) things that we have seen while driving around Delaware that we also always wondered about,” Ms. Kipp said.

The 192-page book covers topics such as the Chief Little Owl sculpture in Bethany Beach, the infamous Patty Cannon, Miles the Monster and just why does Delaware grow so many lima beans?

The married couple from Dover’s previous book was “100 Things to Do in Delaware Before You Die.” Both are published by Reedy Press, and like the last one, “Secret Delaware” is part of a series developed by Reedy that focuses on the unknown history of places across the country.

“It’s kind of an offbeat approach. The thinking is, it’s, kind of, more of an armchair guide to your area or your city or your state,” Mr. Shortridge said.

“‘100 Things’ is all about places to go and things to do. This is more about sitting back and learning. You can also go out to the locations with each item, if you’re interested.”

Along with many of the surprises, there are smaller sidebars with additional information.

“It was nice to be able to, kind of, take some things that maybe didn’t quite fit into the book as a larger item and incorporate them,” Ms. Kipp said.

“So, for example, in the item about Fort Delaware, which is supposedly haunted and was a very major historical site with regards to the Civil War, it also is a major site for birders. That probably wasn’t going to support something bigger, but I definitely wanted to be able to mention that.”

Each entry covers just one or two pages.

“Entire books could probably be written about a lot of these things. For example, theoretically, you could probably write an entire book about John F. Kennedy when his helicopter landed on I-95 to dedicate part of it shortly before he died,” Ms. Kipp said.

“Or the Dover astronomer Annie Jump Cannon. You could obviously write a whole book about that. I think that we just tried to really capture the essence of those stories, just trying to get people interested in it. If they want to know more, they can seek that out, or they can go out and visit some of the things that are related to these people and experience them for themselves.”

Like she did: While researching the reasons why muskrat has become a culinary staple around these parts, Ms. Kipp got up the courage to try the Delaware delicacy.

“There is an area dining critic in the book, who said, ‘The flavor lingers like a house guest who has long overstayed their welcome,’ and I think (it) is pretty accurate,” she said.

As a Sussex County native who has lived and worked in all three counties, Mr. Shortridge said he found plenty of information that surprised even him.

“Everybody drives by on the overpass near the (Dover) Air Force Base and sees the planes out at the Air Mobility Command Museum. Lots of people visit there, but what I certainly didn’t know when I started writing this and researching this was that hangar that is the home of the museum was actually the home of some top-secret rocket research during World War II,” he said.

“They were trying to find ways to fire rockets from airplanes, and eventually (had) some (P-47) Thunderbolts with rockets to go after tanks and artillery. So that was, kind of, one of those neat little secret history things, where you know part of the story, but you don’t really know the deep back story there.”

The authors say the book took them about a year to write, and there are 10 pages alone dedicated to the sources and stories from periodicals that helped inform the book.

“I think the strength of the book is, you know what you’re getting is documented and factual. There’s a reason that the book is dedicated to the journalists — they are the people who write the first draft of history — and we found a lot of these people that we’ve worked with and that we had heard about throughout our time in journalism,” Mr. Shortridge said.

Next up for the two is a book with a working title of “Lost Delaware.”

“It’s going to document a lot of the buildings and the places and the companies and locations that are no longer here but really did shape the First State in a lot of ways. We’re still in the early, early stages of that one, but it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Mr. Shortridge said.

To celebrate the launch of “Secret Delaware,” there are three presentations scheduled this month.

On Saturday, Mr. Shortridge and Ms. Kipp will hold a book signing at the Bear Public Library, 101 Governors Place, from 11 a.m. to noon. The two will also sign at the Smyrna Public Library, 107 S. Main St., on Thursday from 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Additionally, they will be taking part in a virtual event presented by Bethany Beach Books on Nov. 21 from 6-6:45 p.m. For registration and information, visit bethanybeachbooks.com and click on Virtual Events.

“Secret Delaware” is available at all area bookstores and online retailers.